Death By Water, Killed By Faith
by melili7
Summary: This story is a scary story I've written and it has given people nightmares. Hope you enjoy!


Caleb: Walking along the dry boardwalk, the morning sun was blinding my eyes. It was quiet today; usually you would hear fisherman yell over to each other saying, "Come on and throw those fish over already!" I was just a little hesitant to board Frankie's yacht considering I had just watched Titanic yesterday. Shielding my eyes from the sun, I scanned the dock for Frankie and his boat. I saw smaller boats docked on the pier and couple of buoys hanging out there like apples in a bucket. The wind gave a gentle blow, sending the scent of salt up my nose making me thirsty. The dock was deserted except for a nice looking boat up ahead and the figure waving in my direction.

Of course, it was Frankie. Frankie and I have been best friends since we could walk. The amigos, the two musketeers; we even spit hand shook that we would always stay best friends, even when we are really old men saying, "I'll sleep when I'm dead!" Frankie was more on the 'rich' side then I was. His dad owned almost half of all the businesses and industries of the tri state area, and he was on the school board. Frankie was a carefree person, so nothing in life bothered him. He could also be sometimes clueless, because he didn't bother paying attention in school like he was suppose to. If there was a class about getting away with things, Frankie would get an automatic A. Literally, this guy could get away with telling the former president that he was a nutcase. All he would have to do was give his best 'innocent' face, having his blond hair hang a little over his grey eyes and would flash a dimple on his left cheek. (Unlike me, I tried that with my father when I accidentally scratched his new Toyota.) Yeah, I don't have the nice blond hair, only black, so that did no good. Enough about how I get in trouble.

I looked at the boat; it was amazingly large.. Deck, stern and haul were all pearl-white with the golden name engraved at its side, "Britannic II."

"Hey Caleb!" waved Frankie, jumping off of the boat. He was dressed in a white polo and blue Bermudas. His blond hair was tucked into a white captain's hat with a giant anchor on it; While I just wore a tee shirt and shorts.

"Nice boat there.'' I said, still looking at the yacht.

"I know, right? A gift from my parents! Ain't she something?" he started with a wide grin on his face.

I chuckled and started to walk up the small stairs, "You go to one of the best schools ever and you still use the word ain't?"

Frankie was right behind me, "Man it's summer, I'm not in the mood to turn my brain on.''

"Whatever." I responded. When I got on deck my face was reflected on the shiny wooden floor. The inside of the yacht was like a living room. There were large padded lawn chairs and a small built in pool of water. Not the kind you can swim in, but the kind you can put tropical fish in, like a pond of some sort. The boat was not the kind of 'party yacht' with a bar tender and a disco ball hanging over your head with giant amps for DJ's. It was more like a relaxation place. I scanned around.

"Do you know how to drive this thing?" I asked nervously, looking at Frankie.

"Yeah, I guess. My dad gave me a quick lesson.'' He said, looking out at the water. I was still uncertain, but I kept my mouth shut. I went over and sat on the cushiony chair, folding my hands behind my head.

"So when do we leave?" I asked, leaning back like I was getting a tan.

Frankie chewed on his bottom lip and said, "A few more people are coming. Maya and Leila, and Leila invited… what's her name? Mortica?"

I closed my eyes and said, "No one really knows her name. So we call her Scarypants. Creative name, right?"

Frankie snorted, "I don't know why Leila invited her. No one would invite that girl anywhere!" Just by mentioning them, I could already hear Maya come up the boardwalk with Leila and Scarypants a few steps behind.

"Hey there! Nice boat!" yelled Maya, with her brown curls shinning like copper in the sunlight. Leila was behind with her lemon blond hair tied in a ponytail, and of course right behind her dressed in all black with a matching veil covering her face, was Scarypants. They got on the boat and Leila looked around. "Not bad, not bad at all.'' she said, putting on her sunglasses.

Frankie clamped his hands together and said, "All right let's start this boat up before all of the oceans taken by fisherman!" He went over to the controls and with a flick of his keys, the boat motor started up.

I went over and asked, "So captain, where do we go first?"

Frankie shrugged, with a big grin on his face and said, "I'll tell you when I get there.'' He turned the steering wheel of the yacht and we departed from the dock.

We sailed for a few hours with only the sound of Leila and Maya chatting away about some project, the boat motor and the sounds of the moving waves. I looked at Scarypants from the corner of my eye and noticed that she kept her eyes locked on the water, like she was waiting for something. I thought that she was just being weird, so I laid back on the comfy lawn chair and felt the motion of the boat move.. My eyes got heavy, and I drifted into sleep.

I was woken up later with some cold water on my face. "Wake up, sleeping beauty!'' said Frankie.

I woke with a sudden jolt and looked around. "Where are we?" I asked. There was nothing here but water and sky, with no land in sight.

Frankie shrugged and said, "I don't know, but hey, it's peaceful!" I got up with a slight languor and yawned. I went to the deck; the sun was in the middle of the sky.

I stretched out my arms and said, "It's certainly….. quiet.'' I looked around and again noticed that Scarypants was still looking at the water, as if her eyes never moved. "What a weirdo,'' I thought. Looking at the horizon opposite, I noticed a small figure in the distance.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the figure.

Maya stopped her chatting and looked over, "Probably a fishing ship or something." Everyone looked at my direction, even Scarypants, turning her head slowly. Leila was quiet, which was unusual, because she could talk forever, even during a tornado. Instead, she mumbled something under her breath and looked down. It wasn't long before we saw something small shoot across the water like a bullet. The thing hit the haul with the loud sound of crunching metal, making the ship sway, sending us all falling down.

"What was that?" asked Scarypants, getting up.

"I don't know.'' said Frankie. Everyone went silent.

Within minutes the silence was broken when Maya asked, "Is it me, or is the boat going down?" I got up and ran over to the railing and saw that we were getting closer to the water.

"We're sinking!" yelled Leila. Everyone screamed loudly and started shuffling all over the place, trying to find a way out. Even though they didn't bother realizing that we were in the middle of the ocean. "Everyone just stay calm!'' I yelled, but of course, no one paid any attention.

They were all running around screaming their heads off. The boat started to tilt to the left, sending us falling down again. The furniture was moving and some chairs and a desk went overboard. I got up and frantically searched for something that could save our lives. How could Frankie be so stupid no to have life jackets? I wanted to run down the stairs to look for some but the water was like a deep pool at the mouth of the entrance. When I thought I lost hope, I started to look under the seats to see if some life jackets would be there. The boat was tipping even further, and two more lawn chairs and a plant went overboard crashing into the water. The screams grew louder. Under one seat was a red box with a label that said, "In case of an emergency.'' Well, this was an emergency. There was a small yellow square on the top that looked like one of those really folded deflated rafts.

I picked up the box and the deflated raft and ran over to them.

Scarypants looked at the raft, rolled her eyes and said, "That thing is going to take forever to blow up!"

Leila breaths were fast and she screamed, "Well be at the bottom of the ocean by then!" The boat tilted further, and we were all now clutching on to the railings for dear life. Now I could hear the clear sound of the spinning propeller; it sounded like the spinning blade of a blender. I bit the handle of the red box and read the small print of the deflated raft:

"Throw in water"

I took the raft in my free hand and chugged it at the water.

"What the heck did you do that for!?" yelled Frankie.

"Wait" I said, mouth still clenched on the box and pointing to the raft, "Look." The small square was unfolding and blew itself up. I threw in the red box and jumped into the raft myself..

"Come on!" I yelled. They all hesitated but Maya took a breath, climbed over the railing, and jumped in, landing on her knees. Frankie came next, and he landed on his back almost sending me overboard. Now all was left was Leila and Scarypants.

"Come on! Hurry!" I yelled. Leila shook her head but Scarypants climbed over the railing and jumped in, landing on her feet perfectly, which somewhat amazed me.

"Now you!" she said, pointing at Leila. But Leila was as stubborn as anyone could get. The boat was tilted even lower, forcing her to clutch on the railing tighter. The edge of the boat was now touching the water.

She took a breath and climbed over the railing. She did not grip the railing tight enough and her feet slipped. I suppose the shock went to her hands because she let go, sending her overboard. Instead of falling in the raft, she ended up hitting her head on the spinning propeller sending a crunching sound that sent everyone quiet with shock. Leila landed in the water, and blood came up instantly like a puff of smoke. Maya went over to the edge of the raft, looked over and screamed, "Leila!" I jumped into the water and swam until I caught hold of her arm. The water was an ashy deep blue; the blood was like a cloud making my stomach churn at the sight of it.

Blood stung my eyes and I had the strong urge to gag. I swam up, pulling an unconscious Leila behind me. We hit the surface and Frankie, Maya and Scarypants pulled her up to the boat and I climbed in myself. I looked at Leila and the skin and some bone of the right side of her head was completely gone. All that was left was a hole exposing of what I thought was a chunk of her white pink stained skull and pieces of sliced brain matter. Her clothes were blood stained as well as mine. "Oh my….. what do we do now?!" yelled Maya, cradling Leila's head on her lap. I hesitated for a moment, and then my mind went over to the red box. I opened it up and inside were two towels, some water, little packages of food and some ointment. I took the towels and went over to the sobbing Leila. I put the towel on her head. Her skull felt under the towel. All hard, semi-rocklike, slippery and a little squishy. But I told Maya to put pressure on it, so not much blood would escape. I looked back but the boat was completely gone. Looking back at Leila's blood stained face, I said under my breath, "Hold on.'' She was now fighting for her life, and we were trying to save it.

_Jim: Sitting in my chair I looked outside. It had to be at least 100 degrees out there because I was still sweating in here even with the fan on high. The station was quiet meaning I could prop my feet up and relax. The buzzing fan and the clicking of shoes were all I could hear. My phone rang startling me a little bit. I picked it up and said, "Hello, Tri City Police station. Detective Todd speaking." On the other line was a female voice screaming,_

"_M- My son is missing! He's missing!" she went into a large sob. I took out my notebook and the pen clipped on my shirt pocket and said to her,_

"_Alright ma'am I need you to calm down and tell me exactly how he went missing.''_

_The lady on the other end took a breath and said, "My son and his friends went on his boat four days ago and he hasn't come home. I've called his friend's parents and their children have not returned either.''_

_I scribbled down a few notes and asked, "Can I have their names and your name too ma'am?" The women's breath was heavy but she said her name: Natalie Finn, her son Frankie Finn and his friends, Caleb Ferril, Leila and Faith Goodman, and Maya Abraham._

"_Finn?" I thought, "Isn't that Carl's son? Who would give a seventeen year old a boat?" Mrs. Finn was still sobbing on the other line. I finished jotting down the names and contact numbers, then told her not to worry and hung up the phone._

_Bill came in and asked, "Anything new, Jim?"_

_I nodded and held up the notepad. "The Finn kid and his friends are missing by water. The parents haven't seen them in ninety six hours.''_

_Bill looked at me and said, "Carl's son? I always knew that man would spoil his kid enough that it would cost that boy his life.''_

_I leaned back in my chair, "Says here that the boy left for the dock by Marine Street at 10 a.m'' _

_Bill pursed his lips and said, "Knowing the Finn boy he'd probably go northwest of the fishing area.'' I nodded. The one thing that came to my mind was, were they still alive or dead?_

Caleb: We drifted for days without a response from Leila. There wasn't even much talk with us either. All of us just sat staring at her hoping she will open her eyes and tell us that she was all right. We rationed our food and water. Maya tried to encourage Leila to eat by putting some food to her lips, but her mouth would not open. We all hoped and prayed that Leila would make it. It was not until the day that Leila showed no signs of life. It was in the morning, I would guess at about 6 A.M when Leila took her last forced breath. We were woken up by Maya's cries. Her face was pure pink and floods of tears streamed down her face. "She's gone! She's gone!" was all Maya would say. We all looked at them. Maya held the deceased body of Leila. All the color of her face was gone, she was gone and we could not bring her back.

Jim: _Police cars were parked on the side of the boardwalk and we had "caution tape" wrapped around the pier. Standing at the edge of the boardwalk, I looked down at the water, my reflection moved in a gentle rhythm. "Please don't be dead,'' I said, under my breath. Apparently there were no witnesses to tell us exactly when the kids left. The boat we were looking for was called the "Britannic II." Didn't that ship sink by a torpedo attack? I mean really, have you ever heard of another boat called the "Titanic II?" My thought was interrupted by a female voice._

"_Detective Todd?" I turned and saw a small petit women looking at me._

_She took her badge out and said, "I am special agent Bensin. I have knowledge that you received the call from the boy's mother?"_

_I nodded and said, "Yes I did.''_

_Bensin nodded. "We will have boats out within 50 miles from this location and divers when needed. I assume you will accompany the search?"_

_I nodded and said, "I'll be on boat five.''_

Caleb: The crying went on for days. Each day the sun grew hot, each day Maya's personality changed. She would clutch Leila's body and look at us with wide eyes like a mad women. If we even got close to her she would curse at us to stay back. Maya was losing it. We were then all forced to be cramped at the edge of the raft with the fear of falling over. The next day we found Maya dead. There was a pool of shiny thick blood around her. We noticed that she was holding something in her hand.

"What's that?" asked Frankie. His words were slurred a little from the dehydration since the water was now all gone. I managed to reach over. Scarypants looked over and read, "Laudanum.'' I felt my heart skip a beat for a moment. Laudanum was a heavy drug. If you took too much then you are basically timing your own death.

"How did she get this?" I thought because Maya never used drugs. I dropped the bottle in the water and heard it drop and sink down.

"What do we do now?" asked Scarypants. I looked at the two dead girls and said, "Throw them over.'' No one disagreed or said anything. So with little energy that we could spare, we threw Maya over first, then Leila. Their bodies landed in the water with a splash sending some cool water on my face. The bodies drifted below sinking, sinking until they were no more than a shadow. We stretched out our feet on the blood and I had anger and grief boil up inside of me. Everything around me seemed unreal.

One thing was certain, I wanted to go home. I looked to my left and saw Frankie breathing heavily with his head tilted back facing the sun. His chest moved up and down as if the breaths were forced. Scarypants was silent not making any eye contact with either of us. One thing that was going through my mind was, and then there were three.

_Jim: We were out on open water about a few miles from the pier. The divers were below surface while I scanned around with the binoculars._

"_Any sign of the boat?" asked Bill. I shook my head no and kept looking. Then a diver came to the surface._

"_Get anything yet?" I asked, looking at the wet diver. He shook his head yes and said, "Yeah, there's a boat down there on its side with a giant hole in the haul. Looked like something had pierced the metal.''_

_I put the binoculars down and said, "You get the name of the boat?"_

_The diver nodded and said, "The Britannic II, it's our boat"_

_My heart skipped at beat and I spoke slowly, "Were there any bodies discovered?" the diver shook his head no and said, "The kids might have survived the impact.''_

_That brought a little lightness in my heart knowing that they were not dead. I looked out on the open water and the sun was growing hotter. "For all I know they could be miles away from here.'' Their lives were now at risk._

Caleb: The sun was in the middle of the sky and Frankie started to go delusional. "Ha, the water is in the sky!" he said, pointing with a crooked finger up and his eyes were rolling around.

I turned my head over and said, "No its not''

He looked back at me with an accusing finger and said, "Y-yes it is you, you liar!" his words were slurred. I turned my head back and had to remind myself that he didn't mean it.

Frankie kept pushing me on and said, "Yes it is! Yes it is!"

"Enough!" I screamed. Then he was quiet. I am sick, tired and hungry to put up with his nonsense. Throughout the whole day we did not speak.

The next morning I found Frankie dead. His head was tilted back and trickles of thick water-like liquid was at the corner of his mouth. What it looked like in his hand was another bottle of Laudanum.

"Frankie?" I breathed, no response. My best friend was dead, and I had not the chance to say good-bye. Scarypants was still asleep which gave me time for a small funeral. I wept and said some last words to my childhood friend. Grief and anger were now all I felt when I pushed Frankie overboard. I stared back at him; his body was now part of the ocean, just like Leila and Maya's. I stared back as the shadow disappearing into the water, and then there were two. It wasn't until a few hours when Scarypants woke up.

"Where's Frankie?" she asked. I looked away and whispered, "He's gone.'' Scarypants sat up straight and she did not look the least bit tired.

Jim: _Boats were scattered everywhere with only the communication of a radio. So far no one has said anything about finding bodies or a raft. My boat consisted of two detectives, myself and Detective Hawthorn. We had two divers that would go down every few miles to see if there were any possible bodies. I was road mapping where we were and the dead ends we hit. It wasn't long until Detective Hawthorn came in and said, "We have discovered two bodies.'' I went out on deck and the divers pulled in two decomposing corpse's. The bodies were of two females, the skin was rotting turning it into a copper color. One girl, we could probably identify with a photo. The other one, it looked like a bull shark probably took a large bite out of her head._

"_Do you think it could be two of the kids?" I asked._

_Detective Hawthorn paused and said, "You know something Jim? I think that we're probably dealing with a murder instead. See here.'' He said pointing at the top of the girl's head. "That looks like it was sliced off by something sharp.''_

"_Possible scalping maybe?" I suggested._

_He shrugged and said, "I don't know."_

Caleb: "What a shame" said Scarypants.

I looked at her and I felt the anger boil up again. "You don't seem that upset by it.'' I questioned. She removed her veil revealing a pale white face and ice blues eyes that seemed surreal, like a ghost of some sort.

She smirked and said, "Too bad, I thought he might have survived. He surly seemed strong enough. But how did that Laudanum get there?" I kept my eyes at her. From the sleeve of her dress she pulled out a bottle. It was no bigger than your ring finger and it was full to the top.

"You" I breathed. "You gave them the drug.''

Scarypants smiled sweetly and stroked the bottle. "An interesting liquid isn't it?" she held it up to the sun admiring the substance. "But one must be careful when drinking it.''

I was now in fury, "Why did you do it?" I asked.

Scarypants looked back at me, her eyes like glass. "So if I got rid of most of you, then the ridiculing would stop.'' Her face was cold and she said, "All the teasing and rumors that have been said about me. I hated it and you people.''

I sat up a little straighter, "Then why did you come?" I asked.

Scarypants looked back at me with her voice sweet again, "Because Leila was suppose to take me.''

I looked at her confounded and said, "What do you mean by 'suppose' to?"

She laughed lightly and said, "Or else our parents wouldn't have let her go.'' Now I was really confounded.

"Our parents? You two were sisters?"

Scarypants nodded slightly and said, "Stepsisters really. The poor dear would not mention it to her friends or else she would be made fun of for being the sister of a freak.'' Her face was now hard as stone. "She made my life miserable as soon as our parents got married. I had to take up her last name for crying out loud! Now I had trouble at school and at home. So I took care of her.''

I was now afraid, "But why-" before I could say anymore, Scarypants pulled out a dagger from the pocket of her dress. I stopped and her tone got hard.

"Now you listen here. I have been known as many names that are not my own.'' The dagger inched closer. "You will remember my name to your grave. I am Faith Goodman and no one will make fun of me again.'' Her smile was full of malice and she made her voice sweet again, "Goodbye Mr. Ferril.'' She paused and said in a whisper, "and then there was one.'' The dagger came down piercing my throat sending lashes of pain. I tasted blood that was filling my airway. I chocked and gagged until her face faded away. Everything was a blur, and then it went dark. The only thing that was echoing through my head was, "and then there was one, and then there was one…..''

_Jim: "Ship Wreak Victims Found Dead With One Survivor." Was the headline of "The Riverview Gazette." I kept looking at the newspaper that was sitting on my desk. There was only one girl in the raft when we found her. She claimed to be Faith Goodmen. She looked a mess with blood everywhere. When we brought her to the hospital she claimed that she had a vague memory of the event. The only thing that she could decipher was that everyone went delusional with the scarcity of food and water and they jumped off the boat. We only recovered two bodies and the two others, of the boys, were still missing. Divers are still searching the ocean floor as I speak. The parents didn't take it so well because I heard that Mrs. Finn is in a state of shock and is refusing to come out of her room. Mr. Finn resigned from the school board. I closed the case folder and ran my fingers though my hair. It was one thing to lose a bunch of people but to lose a bunch of kids was another thing. I can feel what those parents are feeling right now, to lose their kid, because I have lost a kid myself. I remember five summers ago, my little girl was lost on a family vacation. I remember that day well, the sun was bright and the beach was quiet._

"_How about here?" said my wife Susie setting up the beach blanket._

"_Daddy come in the water with me?" asked my daughter Kyra, whom was no more than six at the time. Her eyes were wide and she had a big beautiful smile. She looked just like her mother._

_I smiled and said, "I'll be there in a minute alright?" she nodded and ran into the water with her thick brown curls tied in pigtails._

_My wife sat on the beach chair and said, "This is nice, no one to disturb us, the weather's nice and –Kyra!" I whipped my head around when I saw her hand disappear in the water. Kyra's head managed to hit the surface and yell, "Mommy, Daddy help my foot hurts!" then she disappeared. I ran into the water and swam but there was no sight of her. I went under and saw her small body slowly drift down. I caught hold of her before she drifted any further and swam like a maniac back to the beach. Susie was waiting at the edge of the water. We both fell to our knees looking at our child. "Kyra! Kyra sweetie please wake up!" yelled Susie. But Kyra gave no response. Susie screamed and buried her face in Kyra's lifeless body. She was dead, my little girl, my life was dead. The reason I bother to wake up every morning was because of her. Now she was gone. The autopsy specialist said that Kyra's death was from a floating box jellyfish that stung the center of her inner foot. The venom killed her in minutes. Susie and I had nothing after Kyra's death. We separated a few months later. I wiped away the tear coming back to reality when Detective Hawthorn came in and sat on the chair in front of my desk._

"_Any more information from the girl?" I asked pulling myself together._

_He shook his head no and said, "From my knowledge she still has a vague memory of the event. Just the same story over and over again. You alright Jim?" he asked._

"_Yeah I'm fine. Jut allergies from the rug here.'' I handed him the case folder. "At least we got one alive. Did they find the bodies of the two boys?"_

_Detective Hawthorn shook his head no and said, "Nothing so far, they're going to give it another month is what I heard." We were silent for a moment only listening to the air conditioning. Then silence._


End file.
